LUX - Hotel & Spa Awards 2016 39 Best Countryside Retreat 2016 - Essex & LUX Recommended Wedding Venue - Essex While weekdays see a flurry of business clients staying in the hotel’s 12 rooms, the hotel prides itself on predominantly catering to wedding parties. Following the well-established trend for an all-inclusive, self- contained holistic wedding experience, That Amazing Place allows its rooms and facilities to become monopolised, made exclusive for the clients and their guests over the course of their nuptials. This, Angie, states, is an important facet of their business model; she expands on her own role in bringing a unique and devoted wedding service to clients. “Our wedding service is an intensely intimate experience, owing to the personal service we provide. Currently, I am the sole party involved in interacting with the clients. From the moment they walk through the door to have a look around in their search for a venue, right through to the wedding night, the couple will only have to deal with one person, myself. “Our central aim is to build up a good rapport with clients, thereby making their experience of our venue as good as it can be. This extends not only to our wedding parties, but also to our weekday business guests, as well as those coming to us in search of a break. Given the lack of any additional full-time staff beyond myself and the owners, the professionalism and friendliness that we extend to our clients is of the utmost importance to the Best Countryside Retreat 2016 - Essex & LUX Recommended Wedding Venue - Essex For six centuries, this was the site of a monastery known as Hubbards Hall, and over time settled into a quiet existence, a hidden gem in the Essex countryside occupied as a residential property. Two years ago, however, this Grade-2 Listed building underwent a renaissance. Its current owners, together with Angie Roberts, the venue’s in-house wedding organiser, now operate this elegant venue as an award-winning boutique B&B establishment. That Amazing Place has already established a firm reputation for its relaxed atmosphere, seeping quality and luxury from the very stonework. HO160041 Company: That Amazing Place Email:
[email protected] Phone: 07955 940 532 Web Address: www.thatamazingplace.co.uk Address: Hubbards Hall Drive, Off Churchgate Street, Old Harlow, Essex, CM17 0NH way that we do business.” The elaborate décor on display at That Amazing Place somewhat belies the simplicity of the organisation behind the enterprise. With such plush furnishings and lavish contemporary interiors, one would be conned into imagining that a large staff would be required to keep the rooms as immaculate as they are. In fact, as Angie explains, there are no full-time staff besides her and the owners. “The owners of the property take care of the B&B side of things, and I am solely responsible for handling the weddings. For the day itself, of course, we will take on people to fulfil crucial roles such as manning the bar, serving the food, providing music, et cetera, but for the rest of the time, we keep things very intimate. Our clients really appreciate the expertise that comes with having just a single person involved in that drawn-out process.” Indeed, That Amazing Place has achieved a lot within a relatively short space of time. Being recently awarded with a Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor is cause enough for celebration, but in addition, the hotel has also recently been awarded the Stellar Stays Award in conjunction with HotelsCombined; this equates to being placed among the top three per cent of hotels not only across the UK, but across the world. Additionally, among the 392 hotel properties in Essex alone, That Amazing Place was placed sixth, based on exceptional customer comments and responses. For such a young company, these accomplishments cannot, and should not, be overlooked. While a major challenge for new boutique hotels can be getting their name into the wider market and establishing a firm client base, That Amazing Place has accomplished what other venues might take years longer to achieve. This, Angie claims, is solely down to the focus on one-on-one service, and a determination to not fit in with established trends in the wider market. “While a lot of other such wedding venues embrace the ‘wedding factory’ approach, where their clients can leaf through a file and select everything that they want, that comes with an additional level of bother and stress that they could do without. In my role, I am solely responsible for helping our clients to organise their weddings – I will be there on the day to make sure that everything runs smoothly, just as we had planned it, so that the happy couple can be relaxed and content.” The hotel takes further pride in its customer service through its boutique beauty salon, appropriately named That Amazing Salon. Run by Fay, it is situated in the heart of the old monastery complex, and affords its guests, men and women alike, with a range of tailored treatments, from manicures and pedicures to hot stone massages. A subtle flair of modern healthcare technology comes with the range of Dermologica skin treatments, including ‘face mapping’ skin analysis and biosurface peels to slough away dull epidermal layers and accelerate cell renewal without inflammation. As such, these packages are perfectly suited for weddings, hence the salon’s range of bridal packages. Such care and attention to the needs of their customers might well underpin how That Amazing Place seems to placed its finger on the pulse of its clientele. Newer additions to the hotel, like the ornate outdoor ceremony structure, are expected to open even more opportunities for clients. “Other than that,” Angie concludes, “we want to maintain that very friendly atmosphere and professional, intimate service that we have thus far been able to maintain since opening.” That Amazing Place